Race Report (Veterans Marathon 11/13/2010)
Pre-Race – Grue was kind enough to pick me up on Friday morning to drive the 3.5 hours to Columbia City, IN for the race. We stopped for some Chicago style pizza for lunch and headed out.
Once we checked in at the hotel we decided to drive the course. This was a good idea, and a really bad idea: Good, in that it eliminated any thoughts we had of the course being “relatively flat.” Bad in that the course is really hilly on the back ½, especially a 3.5 mile square section that included some gravel road. I think it got in our heads more than a little bit that it would be a tough challenge to meet our goals. Personally, up until that point I still thought maybe I could hit a 4 hr time, but after the drive I decided I’d be very happy with a 4:10 if I could do it.
We had dinner at a local family restaurant, had a couple of beers (once our 17 year old waitress found someone old enough to bring us the beer, that is) and relaxed at the hotel the rest of the night.
Morning – Up at 6:15 for coffee and oatmeal, out the door at just after 7. It was nice being so close to the race start, and with only 600 combined marathon & half-marathon racers, it was easy to get parked and grab some real estate in the Town Hall to stay warm and make one last bathroom stop before getting to the start line. I was very, very nervous right up until a few minutes before the cannon (yes, an actual cannon) signaled the start of the race. I’m always nervous, but this was worse than usual. Once we got to the start line, I just told myself “you can do this today,” and settled in. Temps were a pleasantly cool 50 degrees at the start.
Race Plan – My plan was to take the first mile a little slow to get settled in, then stay around 9:05 for as long as I could. I expected around mile 20 I’d have to slow down, especially given the hills in that section, and hoped to keep around 10’s from there to the end. That gave me a fair amount of leeway to sneak in below 4:10. I divided the race up into an initial 2 mile section, then 5x 4 mile sections through mile 22, and after that it would be mile-by-mile to the finish.
Section 1, miles 1 & 2 (2 miles): 9:15, 9:30 – 155bpm ave
The only section of the day that my Garmin said was significantly longer that it was supposed to be (2.05 miles). Slightly downhill and the small crowd separated out quickly. I noticed right away that the majority of the runners were already ahead of me. Didn’t matter – I wasn’t racing them. I was just racing me.
Section 2, miles 3-6 (4 miles): 9:10, 8:56, 9:04, 8:58 – 159bpm ave
A few small hills in this section, we headed east through a small business area then south into the corn fields and woods. I noticed 2 runners who were doing a run/walk routine, both probably tri-mans age. I’d pass them then they’d pass me. At some point I pulled ahead and never saw one of them again. Ditched my gloves by mile 4. Temps were very comfortable and it was nice running into the breeze. My pace felt easy and relaxed.
Section 3, miles 7-10 (4 miles): 9:09, 8:59, 9:03, 9:05 – 161bpm ave
Still rolling hills but slightly downhill overall, we headed west then cut sharply northeast to complete a triangle before joining back up with the road we’d previously taken south. There was a pig farm or something down there that smelled awful – and we had to pass its stench twice. Someone had also started burning leaves early at one spot. Gotta love farmland. I chatted with a guy for a bit about my Nathan belt, but he was going a little too fast for me so I dropped back. Turns out he was walking at every mile marker for 30 seconds or so then running to the next. We passed each other every mile until around mile 17 and encouraged/chatted each other up a bit. Turned out the guy (Brett) is also 39.
Section 4, miles 11-14 (4 miles): 9:10, 9:08, 9:07, 8:58 – 168bpm ave
Headed back into town for the ½ marathon finish then back out to the west for the next out & back section. After one particularly steep hill, Brett passed me and noted, “great knee lift on that hill!” Thanks, Tri-man – that was all you! I passed 13.1 in 1:59:27, #194 of the 271 marathon runners. Whatever – I felt good, the temps were still pleasant, and I was exactly where I had hoped to be. I also noted to myself that I was already ahead of my Chicago Marathon debacle pace. That felt pretty good!
Section 5, miles 15-18 (4 miles): 9:09, 9:11, 9:06, 9:25 – 172bpm ave
Pretty much straight west, miles 16-18 or so were and out-and-back section to a 3.5 mile square of ridiculous hills and some gravel road. Along that stretch I was passed by the leaders heading back towards town. I made sure to cheer for every one of them, most especially gruecd, who shook his head a bit to let me know that the 3 hr time had slipped away. Ironically, after running the same races 3 times before, this was the first time I had EVER seen gruecd running. Turns out the dude is pretty fast! It was great to slap 5 as we passed. But the fact that the hills had bitten grue didn’t make me feel any better about this section of the race. At mile 17 we hit a gravel road that we’d follow for the next mile until turning north. I hadn’t seen Brett for a while, but was still passing folks now and again – that felt very, very good! But my pace slowed on the gravel and I still had the hills ahead.
Section 6, miles 19-22 (4 miles): 9:59, 10:04, 10:16, 10:04 – 171bpm ave
The first 2.5 miles of this section completed a square and returned us to the main road – and it was tough! My Garmin says the 2 big hills were a 50-60 ft climb, which sounds like a lot less than it felt like, believe me! It was an effort to keep running, but I passed a handful of people in that 2.5 miles (and got passed by a couple, too). I’d slowed down a couple of miles earlier than I’d planned, but at this point I knew I was closing in on my PR and still had a shot at a 4:10.
Section 7, miles 23-24 (2 miles): 10:40, 11:17 – 171bpm ave
The slowest 2 individual miles of the day as we cut west, then north before the final 2 miles east into the city to the finish. I walked twice, maybe 3 times briefly. My legs hurt and I was tired but mentally I was doing OK. I was doing the math in my head and knew I had my PR in the bag and was going to accomplish what I’d set out to do. I passed a guy who was kneeling on the side of the road and asked him if he was OK (he nodded yes, so I kept going). All of the water stops were giving out Gu’s at this point, and even though I’d brought my own and didn’t want to eat any, I kept taking them… I mean, technically I paid for them, right??
This is probably a good place to talk about the fan support. For a tiny little race, there were a great number of people out cheering. It seemed like every water stop had 20 volunteers who shouted encouragement to the runners. Lots of people (oddly, all with little kids) came out of their homes to wave at the runners passing by. There was one couple I must have seen five different times as they moved from place to place cheering. Unlike Chicago, where the noise of 1.5 million people blurs together for me, I saw every one of the faces out cheering. I heard them say, “Great job! Keep it up!” And I made sure I said thank you and thanks for coming out to most of them. It felt personal in a way that the big races can’t. I thought that was pretty cool.
Mile 25 – 10:30 pace, 174bpm
Almost home. I told myself just get to the end of 25, then I’ll walk for a minute and run the rest of the way. Big hill on the back half of this mile. That seems a bit cruel…
Mile 26 – 10:14 pace, 177bpm ave
As I got close to finishing mile 25, I realized if I kept running I’d come under 4:10. But if I walked at all, I wouldn’t make it. Damn – gotta keep going! The first half of the mile dropped 50 ft, then climbed again about 60 feet on the last half mile. Now THAT is just plain rude. With about .4 miles to go overall, I passed Brett again. Dude was limping and had salt caked down both sides of his face – he looked awful. I patted his shoulder and said “Quarter mile to go!” …more or less, anyway. He acknowledged with an affirmative grunting noise and I picked up speed to the finish.
The last .2 – 8:26 pace, 185bpm
I had it. This distance has kicked my ### six times before, but this time – on the toughest course I’ve run – I win. I’m going to walk away from this race genuinely proud of my time. No “I wishes,” no “if only’s,” no excuses. And this was my victory lap. Then, with a couple hundred yards to go and just before the final turn, I saw gruecd among the (small) crowd, cheering for me. My friend, who I met on this board as he helped all of us internet strangers to be better runners, who on his bad days runs a BQ, is standing there cheering for ME. Simply awesome.
I crossed the finish line at 4:09:24:74, #153/271 overall, #194 on the front half and #144 on the back half. I thought that was really cool – even though I gave back 10 minutes on the back half, I passed 41 people. I couldn't have asked for a better race.
. This is exactly what I needed. I went back to the same spot I've been running for my past 3 long runs and felt fantastic. With the way my body went off a cliff last week, I decided to carry a 2nd Gu with me and adjust my fueling strategy. Prior to this, I was drinking a 12oz gatorade and eating a Gu at 5mi. Today I took half the gatorade and 1 Gu at 4mi and then the 2nd half of gatorade and another Gu at 8. Thinking this might be a bit of overkill, but all I know is I felt fantastic the entire way through. I'm not quite sure this is what I'll do next week, but we'll see...At the 9mi mark my legs had a ton of drive left in them, so I opened up my stride a bit to see what my final 3 would be to give me a tiny clue as to what I could expect for the final 5k next week. Since I'm going to go with the 5-5-5 plan next week, I wanted to know what I may have left for the final 5k push. I didn't press it hard, but it was probably a 70%-ish effort. 9:00, 8:46, 8:51 for 26:37. Very happy with that and feel like a 1:55 HM is well within my grasp next week.
. This is exactly what I needed. I went back to the same spot I've been running for my past 3 long runs and felt fantastic. With the way my body went off a cliff last week, I decided to carry a 2nd Gu with me and adjust my fueling strategy. Prior to this, I was drinking a 12oz gatorade and eating a Gu at 5mi. Today I took half the gatorade and 1 Gu at 4mi and then the 2nd half of gatorade and another Gu at 8. Thinking this might be a bit of overkill, but all I know is I felt fantastic the entire way through. I'm not quite sure this is what I'll do next week, but we'll see...At the 9mi mark my legs had a ton of drive left in them, so I opened up my stride a bit to see what my final 3 would be to give me a tiny clue as to what I could expect for the final 5k next week. Since I'm going to go with the 5-5-5 plan next week, I wanted to know what I may have left for the final 5k push. I didn't press it hard, but it was probably a 70%-ish effort. 9:00, 8:46, 8:51 for 26:37. Very happy with that and feel like a 1:55 HM is well within my grasp next week. 
He's running CIM in three weeks, and if I remember correctly, he said that he's looking to go 2:23. 
BasnBrew is killing it. I am jealous of those numbers.
Awesome job, wraith. Great back half on what sounds like a pretty rough course.
Your HM training and progress along the way has been very similar to mine - looking forward to seeing how you do. 
Rodeojones: Welcome to the thread! Yep, you are most likely dealing with runner's knee 
Is your friend definitely the 12th guy?
